Garden Web Community
(Via )
via Garden Voices
I just explored two really neat additions to web gardening community. While I like the social things on a grand scale (like mybloglog, stumbleupon, etc) I find them a little intimidating- with a learning curve in order to use. These two communities were much more user friendly for me. . .
reBlogged
to
Snow
(Via )
via Garden Voices
It’s snowing. Not that this little rat in a fur coat squirrel minds.
reBlogged
to
on Nov 6, 2007, 11:46AM
New Beginings
(Via Snappy's Gardens Blog)
A funny day. No news on the house yet, am waiting for the new landlord to give the estate agent a contract. I over slept today for some reason. Maybe the grey clouds, strong wind, and cold kept me under the quilt!
I am blogging late (it will say about 1am).I have been trying to propogate plants. Pictured is the spider plant with the stolon pinned to the little pot.Im hoping the 3 baby plants will root in the pot.They are just sat on top of the soil with a paper clip holding the runner down.
I took some leaves from the Christmas cactus as UK Bob suggested and put them in the small pot. Six cuttings to try to make one healthy plant. If that works I will do that every so often to make plants for next years plant sale in Walton.
The media officer from Send A Cow sent me an email saying she liked the blog post about keyhole gardens. I want to order the Bag garden kit for when I move. I will see what I can grow over the winter in it. I think you can get Winter onion sets, and grow Kale...
I moved the new Chilli seedlings from the round pot with the fuschia cutting into their own little pots. I have five chilli plants growing now. Jalapeno, Friars Hat, and some unknown varieties from work. The store bought chillis are called Serenade. I have five seedlings from the seeds I scooped out.
I need to look up chilli recipies to use all my chillis if these plants grow! I hope to have positive news soon about house (with the small garden that needs my TLC and green fingers).
Toyama Nishiki… For A Little Color
(Via An Iowa Garden)
Acer palmatum Toyama Nishiki is quite the interesting little maple. Toyama is a city in Honshu province, and Nishiki-e is an ancient (1760) innovation in Japanese block printing, where multiple blocks were used, each with its own color, in order to produce multi-colored prints; undoubtedly the name was applied to this maple because of its multi-colored leaves in spring, with cream, pink and green swirled through the lacy leaves (they obviously aren't too shabby in fall either, with chartreuse, yellow and fiery crimson). This is a relatively small (perhaps four feet tall by six feet) bushy, cascading lace-leaf maple. It requires very careful siting because of its propensity to sunburn if it gets so much as a whiff of afternoon sun ( I thought I had mine in a pretty protected spot, but had to move it to a shady ravine). It's all worth it, though in spring and fall; due to having to settle in all over again after being sunburned, then moved, my tree is still a baby... it's going to be spectacular when it gets larger.
Acer palmatum Toyama Nishiki is quite the interesting little maple. Toyama is a city in Honshu province, and Nishiki-e is an ancient (1760) innovation in Japanese block printing, where multiple blocks were used, each with its own color, in order to produce multi-colored prints; undoubtedly the name was applied to this maple because of its multi-colored leaves in spring, with cream, pink and green swirled through the lacy leaves (they obviously aren't too shabby in fall either, with chartreuse, yellow and fiery crimson). This is a relatively small (perhaps four feet tall by six feet) bushy, cascading lace-leaf maple. It requires very careful siting because of its propensity to sunburn if it gets so much as a whiff of afternoon sun ( I thought I had mine in a pretty protected spot, but had to move it to a shady ravine). It's all worth it, though in spring and fall; due to having to settle in all over again after being sunburned, then moved, my tree is still a baby... it's going to be spectacular when it gets larger.
Garden Perennials Provide a Riot of Color
(Via Home and Family: Gardening Articles from EzineArticles.com)
Garden perennials are popular with many gardeners, though there is a danger that the new gardener will over-plant them as they wait for those already planted to mature. The secret with perennials is patience, and if you want something to add color to your garden while you wait, then plant some annuals for the first year until the perennials really show their true colors.
Garden perennials are popular with many gardeners, though there is a danger that the new gardener will over-plant them as they wait for those already planted to mature. The secret with perennials is patience, and if you want something to add color to your garden while you wait, then plant some annuals for the first year until the perennials really show their true colors.
Solitude Delivered From the Anguish of Loneliness
(Via grow this)
“Every deed and every relationship is surrounded by an atmosphere of silence. Friendship needs no words – it is solitude delivered from the anguish of loneliness.”
Dag Hammarskjold
Notwithstanding my fondness for the colors, images and poems about autumn, there comes a point when I realize I’m surrounded by the dead and the dying. Another word for harvest is murder.
Now, I expect annuals to die, immolated in a final blaze of glory. But what about the collateral damage? Oh, the vegemanity! My young vegetable starts, I hardly knew you. So young, so tender, so appealing to bunnies. I didn't have enough wire baskets to go around, so you can see the surviver inside the perimeter and the stumps of its companions outside the wire. They had so much to live for. Purchased Sunday, planted Tuesday, nibbled to the nubs by Friday.
But the universe makes the rules in the Garden. Here only change is permanent. Seeing the garden with compassion but without self-deception is like trying to see death but without fear. Here’s George the Scarecrow, decked out in his tux for the Fall Festival. I got a big Styrofoam pumpkin and put Medusa Gourd’s rasta hair in the top. This was before the Festival, originally scheduled for 10/27, but postponed to 11/10 by the fires.
Here’s headless George after the fire. The Garden was spared, but the fire was within blocks, and the winds were pretty fierce around the perimeter. We’re making the most of the change. Sometimes, we put too much emphasis on heads and not enough on hearts. George is perfectly happy headless, as he is at home all year, next to Medusa Gourd.
Medusa Gourd is visiting the Garden for the festival, sporting her rasta hair, somewhat thinned by all the commotion, but looking incredibly happy to be near George. They apparently preside helplessly together over the rabbits as they harvest by night.
Reunited friends again, Headless George and Medusa Gourd get it: solitude without loneliness.
“Every deed and every relationship is surrounded by an atmosphere of silence. Friendship needs no words – it is solitude delivered from the anguish of loneliness.”
Dag Hammarskjold
Notwithstanding my fondness for the colors, images and poems about autumn, there comes a point when I realize I’m surrounded by the dead and the dying. Another word for harvest is murder.
Now, I expect annuals to die, immolated in a final blaze of glory. But what about the collateral damage? Oh, the vegemanity! My young vegetable starts, I hardly knew you. So young, so tender, so appealing to bunnies. I didn't have enough wire baskets to go around, so you can see the surviver inside the perimeter and the stumps of its companions outside the wire. They had so much to live for. Purchased Sunday, planted Tuesday, nibbled to the nubs by Friday.
But the universe makes the rules in the Garden. Here only change is permanent. Seeing the garden with compassion but without self-deception is like trying to see death but without fear. Here’s George the Scarecrow, decked out in his tux for the Fall Festival. I got a big Styrofoam pumpkin and put Medusa Gourd’s rasta hair in the top. This was before the Festival, originally scheduled for 10/27, but postponed to 11/10 by the fires. 
Here’s headless George after the fire. The Garden was spared, but the fire was within blocks, and the winds were pretty fierce around the perimeter. We’re making the most of the change. Sometimes, we put too much emphasis on heads and not enough on hearts. George is perfectly happy headless, as he is at home all year, next to Medusa Gourd.
Medusa Gourd is visiting the Garden for the festival, sporting her rasta hair, somewhat thinned by all the commotion, but looking incredibly happy to be near George. They apparently preside helplessly together over the rabbits as they harvest by night. Reunited friends again, Headless George and Medusa Gourd get it: solitude without loneliness.
Landscaping Ideas For Green Solutions
(Via Home and Family: Gardening Articles from EzineArticles.com)
Going "green" is becoming popular in may industries. Home construction, interior design and others are all becoming part of this movement. I would like to discuss landscaping as another area which is extremely important to our environment.
Going "green" is becoming popular in may industries. Home construction, interior design and others are all becoming part of this movement. I would like to discuss landscaping as another area which is extremely important to our environment.
Pythium
(Via EnjoyGardening)
first published November 1st, 2007
I find that fall is a great time to review the recent growing season from both a professional point of view and from a personal one. On the personal front, I had a textbook-perfect lawn this past summer. Well, textbook in the sense that it could have been the poster grass for the cover of Turf Grass Disease. What follows here is the sad tale of what happens when you don’t bring your work home with you.
Most of my lawn was in pretty darn good shape early on in the season, but around mid-July I started to see that an elliptical patch of grass on one slope was dying. When I grabbed a clump, it pulled out of the ground with such little effort that I immediately knew what the problem was, and that I was entirely to blame. Well, to be more accurate, an organism that belongs to the genus Pythium was the culprit, but I had done little to discourage it from attacking my lawn. In fact, I had pretty much laid down the red carpet for its welcome.
The Pythium spp. organism causes a disease called pythium blight also known as ‘root nibbler.’ Basically the organism nibbles away at the fine root hairs of plants preventing the plants from taking up moisture and nutrients. It’s kind of like being invited to a buffet where you’re surrounded by food but have your mouth duct-taped shut. Perhaps the home gardener will best recognize pythium as the organism responsible for rapidly decimating flats of seedlings, a condition commonly known as damping off.
An open invitation
The list of my turf management mistakes was pretty extensive. First, I had let the grass on the slope dry down too much, creating a situation where the roots were thin and vulnerable. Next, I applied a fertilizer too rich in nitrogen. Finally, and this was a big mistake, I soaked the lawn so that it stayed saturated for a couple of days. No one could have provided a better environment for pythium to proliferate. Pythium blight can appear on a stressed lawn, as in my slope’s case, or it can appear on lawns that have the going just a little too good: those with overly lush growth, too much surface moisture for extended periods and too much fertilizer.
Now, the root nibbler is not just a turf grass pest, it can also be very destructive in greenhouse crops, so there has been a lot of research into understanding it. As a professional, I am very familiar with pythium’s power—and I do know how to control it. So why did it dine on my turf, you ask? Well I guess I wasn’t as vigilant as I should have been. The dead spot on my lawn proved that while knowledge is a great thing, it’s not much good if one keeps it hermetically sealed in one’s brain. What’s that saying about doctors not taking their own advice?
Out damned spot!
The good thing is that pythium won’t destroy my entire lawn because the environment that was ideal for its growth only existed in one spot. Once I cut out the affected patch and either resod or reseed next spring (and also perhaps smarten up just a touch), the root nibbler will stay quiescent—as long as I learn from my own turf history.
On the other hand, I could justify the infected patch’s continued existence. Whereas most gardeners hate aphids, mites, slugs and the like (and now have probably added root nibblers to their list), I can’t deny that any organism that has spawned extensive research is, at the very least, interesting. I guess I am bringing my work home with me after all! Yet, to be completely honest, the appeal of having my yard on the cover of Better Homes and Gardens does edge out the cover of Turf Grass Diseases most of the time.
Grounds for Optimism
(Via gardenauthor)
Long before I was old enough to taste that adult morning beverage, coffee, I became a nitrogen delivery system. In other words, I was elected to sprinkle the sediment from the percolator basket around the hosta plants. Recycling before it was fashionable. Unfazed by the caffeine, their huge foliage, continued to expand to gargantuan proportions. The greens were greener, the blues bluer and the variegations more pronounced. We had extreme hosta, years before "extreme" became a buzzword.
Years later, a flowering quince was planted adjacent to the hosta bed and it too, seemed to develop an affinity for coffee grounds. Strong leaf color, steady growth and bountiful blooms (and bumper crops of quince fruits) must be directly attributed to continued applications of that morning sediment - especially since no nutrients, in any other form, were ever offered.
Fast-forward more years than I care to admit, to discover that naturally acidic coffee grounds may have been lowering our already acidic New England soil. And, be advised that hosta, or plantain lily, fed an overabundance of nitrogen, will start to rot. And, consider that the quince was not receiving phosphorus, to boost blossom production. As for the acidity factor, the quince prefers a somewhat acid soil (pH of 3.7 - 6.5), while the hosta requires a sweeter soil, with a pH range of 6.5 -7.5. Still, these plants continued to thrive with their morning coffee.
If you're about to research this topic, brew up an extra pot of coffee. You'll need it. Much of the "evidence" is anecdotal, as is mine. Resources offering scientific results present wildly divergent opinions on the properties and benefits of coffee grounds in the garden. When you "boil down" the available information, you're left with the following salient points and procedures.
Coffee grounds are an organic source of nitrogen, with varying degrees of acidity, according to which expert you believe. Acidifying the soil is a good thing, in areas of high soil alkalinity. Adding a little garden lime or wood ash will neutralize this effect in areas of naturally acidic soil. Augmenting these grounds with rock phosphate and/or colloidal phosphate (more of the necessary calcium) should fulfill the basic needs of most plants.
Enterprising gardeners, carting home huge bags of grounds from the neighborhood coffee shop, are better off adding such large quantities to well-regulated compost piles. And, yes, the filter paper decomposes. Grounds are classified as wet, green, nitrogen-rich material. A balanced pile has alternating layers of green and brown (dry, carbon-rich material, like autumn leaves) materials. Provided with moisture and ventilation, such a pile will quickly yield valuable compost.
When we consider the fact that more gardeners than ever are recycling yard waste into compost, there is cause for rejoicing. With the addition of coffee grounds, our "black-gold" becomes a more valuable commodity, as a soil amendment or as a mulch. In a throw-away society, this is one garden writer who believes we have grounds for optimism!
©Deb Lambert 2007
Photo: Courtesy of Free Images
Long before I was old enough to taste that adult morning beverage, coffee, I became a nitrogen delivery system. In other words, I was elected to sprinkle the sediment from the percolator basket around the hosta plants. Recycling before it was fashionable. Unfazed by the caffeine, their huge foliage, continued to expand to gargantuan proportions. The greens were greener, the blues bluer and the variegations more pronounced. We had extreme hosta, years before "extreme" became a buzzword.Years later, a flowering quince was planted adjacent to the hosta bed and it too, seemed to develop an affinity for coffee grounds. Strong leaf color, steady growth and bountiful blooms (and bumper crops of quince fruits) must be directly attributed to continued applications of that morning sediment - especially since no nutrients, in any other form, were ever offered.
Fast-forward more years than I care to admit, to discover that naturally acidic coffee grounds may have been lowering our already acidic New England soil. And, be advised that hosta, or plantain lily, fed an overabundance of nitrogen, will start to rot. And, consider that the quince was not receiving phosphorus, to boost blossom production. As for the acidity factor, the quince prefers a somewhat acid soil (pH of 3.7 - 6.5), while the hosta requires a sweeter soil, with a pH range of 6.5 -7.5. Still, these plants continued to thrive with their morning coffee.
If you're about to research this topic, brew up an extra pot of coffee. You'll need it. Much of the "evidence" is anecdotal, as is mine. Resources offering scientific results present wildly divergent opinions on the properties and benefits of coffee grounds in the garden. When you "boil down" the available information, you're left with the following salient points and procedures.
Coffee grounds are an organic source of nitrogen, with varying degrees of acidity, according to which expert you believe. Acidifying the soil is a good thing, in areas of high soil alkalinity. Adding a little garden lime or wood ash will neutralize this effect in areas of naturally acidic soil. Augmenting these grounds with rock phosphate and/or colloidal phosphate (more of the necessary calcium) should fulfill the basic needs of most plants.
Enterprising gardeners, carting home huge bags of grounds from the neighborhood coffee shop, are better off adding such large quantities to well-regulated compost piles. And, yes, the filter paper decomposes. Grounds are classified as wet, green, nitrogen-rich material. A balanced pile has alternating layers of green and brown (dry, carbon-rich material, like autumn leaves) materials. Provided with moisture and ventilation, such a pile will quickly yield valuable compost.
When we consider the fact that more gardeners than ever are recycling yard waste into compost, there is cause for rejoicing. With the addition of coffee grounds, our "black-gold" becomes a more valuable commodity, as a soil amendment or as a mulch. In a throw-away society, this is one garden writer who believes we have grounds for optimism!
©Deb Lambert 2007
Photo: Courtesy of Free Images
